Mamata Banerjee Government Appoints Purnendu Maji as District Magistrate of East Midnapore

In a strategic move following the Lok Sabha polls, the Mamata Banerjee government has appointed Purnendu Maji, a WBCS (executive) officer, as the district magistrate of East Midnapore. This decision comes in the wake of the BJP wresting both the Lok Sabha seats — Kanthi and Tamluk — from the Trinamool Congress in the recent elections.

Maji, who had previously served in East Midnapore as the DM for over three years, was transferred to Birbhum by the state government ahead of the polls. However, the Election Commission shifted him to a non-election related post as he was a non-cadre officer.

Post-elections, the government reassigned Maji back to East Midnapore, acknowledging the significant development work he had undertaken during his previous tenure.

In addition to Maji’s appointment, the state government also transferred Joyoshi Das Gupta, a 2010-batch IAS officer, to the personnel and administrative reforms department on special duty. Gupta was appointed as the district magistrate by the ECI after removing Tanvir Afzal, a WBCS (executive) officer.

The reinstatement of Maji as DM and his subsequent posting to a district where the ruling party underperformed in the elections, signals the chief minister’s emphasis on accelerating development projects in the district.

Sources suggest that the ruling establishment believes there might have been a gap in development work in East Midnapore, which resulted in a setback for the ruling party. It is anticipated that new development projects will be planned for East Midnapore to regain the ruling party’s lost support base.

The chief minister is confident that Maji, with his past experience in executing development projects in East Midnapore, will be able to drive these initiatives forward.

While Maji is the first officer to be reinstated post-elections, it is expected that all other officers who were removed by the ECI will likely be reinstated soon.